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/ 28 November 2008
The Thai prime minister sacked his police chief on Friday, fuelling speculation the government is preparing to crack down on protesters.
A furious rescue worker accused Burma’s military junta on Monday of crimes against humanity for refusing to fast-track visas for aid officials desperate to enter the country to help the 1,5-million survivors of Cyclone Nargis. ”They say they will call, but it’s always wait, wait, wait,” Pierre Fouillant of the Comite de Secours Internationaux, a French disaster rescue agency.
Developing countries and environmental groups accused the World Bank on Friday of trying to seize control of the billions of dollars of aid that will be used to tackle climate change in the next four decades. ”The World Bank’s foray into climate change has gone down like a lead balloon,” Friends of the Earth campaigner Tom Picken said.
The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming. ”The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,” said United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
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/ 15 October 2007
United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari told Burma on Monday to stop arresting dissidents and Thailand proposed a regional forum including China and India to nudge the reclusive military junta towards democratic reform. Gambari said the continued arrests and intimidation of activists were ”extremely disturbing”.
United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari may not have met Burma junta supremo Than Shwe at the weekend, but the fact he is still in the country suggests his mission is far from failed. The schedule for Gambari’s mission was threadbare — 24 hours and one meeting with Than Shwe.
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/ 24 September 2007
Hunkered down in their new capital, far removed from the largest anti-government movement since 1988, Burma’s ruling generals are caught in a rare dilemma. They can either come down hard on the Buddhist monks leading the protests — and risk turning pockets of dissent into nationwide outrage as reports.
A rare spate of protests in Burma means the junta is very unlikely to release democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi when her latest year of house arrest expires this weekend, former political prisoners say. The last time Suu Kyi was released from house arrest, in 2002, she drew huge crowds on a tour of the country.
Ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied suggestions by the military and his army-appointed successor he was linked to New Year’s Eve bombs in Bangkok that killed three people and wounded 38. Thaksin accused the army-appointed government of jumping to conclusions by blaming ”groups that have lost political powers”.
To the millions of holidaymakers who flock there every year, Thailand is the ”Land of Smiles”, a picture-postcard paradise of white-sand beaches, tropical sun and exotic eastern charm. But behind the relentlessly promoted tourist image lies a darker reality in which legendary hospitality also extends to less savoury visitors.